Cradle to cradle framework

The cradle to cradle framework is an outline of how design can be used to create sustainable products.
Essentially the idea is to design and manufacture products that reduce and reuse materials, resources and energy.  Cradle to cradle means that you can take the constituent materials and allow them to be be re-used in another process with minimal processing at the end of life (typically the cradle to grave life-cycle).

McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC) is a global sustainability consulting and product certification firm that have devised and oversee the Cradle-to-Cradle certification process.  They have four certification levels - check the website for details -->  www.mbdc.com

This certification process is for products and materials, but we can use the concepts to apply this sort of vision to anything we create.

Take the cradle-to-cradle concept into your next project!

Going Digital - is it more sustainable than print?

If you're a regular to this blog then you'll know that the paper industry is a big contributor to CO2 emissions, uses huge quantities of water and has petroleum inputs all along the product life-cycle.  It would seem that going digital is the sustainable option; Websites, eBooks and digital magazines don't use paper - Bingo problem solved!

But is that all there is to this equation?

Is buying and reading a magazine, newspaper or book more of less energy efficient than accessing the same information online?

To answer this we would need to do a full LCA (life cycle analysis) so let me throw a few general questions out there for you to consider:

• How many articles are read on an electronic device before it's disposed of?
• What percentage of a newspaper is actually read?
• How recyclable are tablets, eBook readers and computers? And what are their usable life span?
• How do newspapers and magazines add up in terms of recyclability and transport miles? 
• What heavy metals and toxic byproducts come from electronic goods?
• What is the impact of forestry, paper making, and ink production?
• What about the data centres that host the online versions; the aircon costs and the equipment?
• Can print on demand at regional centres reduce waste and transport costs?

Not so simple after all.. many competing factors, complex relationships and lack of information.

Case study:

Over at the guardian newspaper in the UK they are asking a similar question.  They acknowledge climate change and the economic, social and environmental challenges ahead, and are exploring their environmental footprint.
In response they have started a two year academic study to look at various scenarios know as the Sympact project. For more info - check out the this link.

Answers?
This doesn't get us any closer to answering the question, "Is digital more sustainable?" so let's make some sweeping assumptions and try and draw some sort of conclusion (un-scentifically).

• People will have computers and tablets whether I/you publish online or not. The contribution of my/your publication to the environmental cost of electronic manufacture and disposal is nearly negligible.
• Using virgin-wood paper, petroleum ink, transporting newsprint miles and dumping in landfills is not the most sustainable option.
• Using post-consumer recycled paper, vegetable-based ink and regional printing with household recycling pickups is more sustainable than the previous option.

Conclusion:
Looks like digital publishing is more sustainable if you pass the blame of production, use and disposal of all the electronic stuff onto "someone else".  The question we now have to ask is - who picks up the environmental tab for all this electronic stuff?


Find out more about the story of stuff here.
If you're interested in the sustainability of paper, ink or glue check out the sustainable graphic design quick guides here.

Sustainable Packaging Redesign fuseproject and PUMA

Here's a great video of how Yves Behar of fuseproject and PUMA re-designed the shoebox.

They spent 21 months | 2,000 ideas | 40+ prototypes

The result:

• 65% reduction in cardboard use
• using no tissue will save 8500 tons of paper and 1 million litres of water
• reduce CO2 by 10,000 tons
• 275 tons of plastic will also be saved

If you've read the sustainable designers quick guide to glues then you'll know that sometimes no-glue is best.

Check out fuseproject's neat no-glue design for the inside box:

To see more images follow this link over to fuseproject.com

A framework for sustainable design

Over at livingprinciples.org they have distilled the decision process that goes into everyday design practice into a framework that anyone can follow.

The "Living Principles for Design" framework takes the four main areas of sustainability - environment, people, economy and culture and shows how these factors can be considered holistically.

In the road map they asks some questions to spark thoughts and consider alternatives in the following main areas.

Environment:

• Behaviours
• Creation
• Durability
• Disassembly
• Supply chain
• Waste
• Impacts

People:

• Impacts
• Conflicts
• Desirability
• Need/Use
• Long view

Economy:

• Systemic view
• Metrics
• Benefits
• Transparency
• Waste reuse

Culture:

• Visions
• Meanings and reactions
• A systemic view
• Diversity

Check out the road map and see if you can integrate these questions into your design process.

Materials life cycle assessment in Graphic Design

Life cycle assessment is also known as life cycle analysis or LCA and can be used to assess the environmental impacts of a product's life and provide a sound basis for informed decisions.
It sounds analytical and complex but with some basic theory under your belt you can apply some practical LCA to your graphic design projects.

The main stages of the life cycle usually follows the cradle-to-grave model (full life-cycle) or occasionally the cradle-to-gate model (partial life-cycle until it reaches the consumer).

This graphic shows the main stages of a cradle-to-grave full life-cycle and the resources that go into the system and waste that comes out (this can happen at every stage, not just at the end). Click on the image to zoom in.

The main stages for analysis include:

• Raw material extraction
• Material processing
• Design
• Manufacture
• Distribution
• Use
• Repair/maintenance
• Disposal

With regard to the following factors:

• Raw Material use
• Water use
• Energy use
• Waste production 
• Waste disposal (air, land, water)
• Transportation steps

Life Cycle Analysis can be as simple as making a basic matrix of these main stages against the factors like in the following graphic (click to enlarge):

Setting up a simple spreadsheet for each material, product, project or the options to satisfy a design brief will bring focus.  It's easy to work out what you don't know (there will be a hole in the matrix) and then you can assess the options against each other.

This is where you'll have to ask your suppliers where their products come from, and if they can source locally extracted/manufactured goods.  You'll have to do some research into what happens at the end of the line.  How do these materials get disposed of?  What actually happens to them in the environment?

I've included "cost" into the matrix even though this strictly isn't a LCA factor, because realistically - will your client stump up extra money for a more sustainable product?

Further posts will look at this in more depth - including open loop production (recycling) and evaluating options that give more useable life for each product.

If you're interested in sustainable design life-cycles check out this post about a graphic designers perspective on sustainability.

Sustainability - a graphic designers perspective

Here is a great video of Eric Benson speaking at TEDx conference in 2010 and gives his perspective to sustainable graphic design.  As a graphic designer his awakening happened at seeing his own direct mail designs dumped in his own rubbish bin (trash can).  Eric now produces environmentally friendly print and packaging material and digital media. Check out the video of his talk below.

Here's a simple graphic of the direct mail life-cycle.  It's highly simplified - and really only shows the journey of the paper, not the ink or other consumables and it only ends in the bin rather than a landfill or incinerator.  Even so, notice that it's not really a "cycle" but a linear flow.  The thing that makes this linear flow possible is cheap energy to transport and process the trees into printed material.

In this video Eric raises some interesting questions and then points out the power we have as graphic designers to change the way we work and to make better decisions.



Eric asks the following questions:
What are the impacts of the objects that I create?
Why is sustainability important to graphic designers?

He gives us the following sobering facts:
Paper industry is the 4th largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
100 million trees are felled annually to produce junk mail.

and Eric points out the power we have as graphic designers:
Facilitate real change throughout the supply chain.
Make sustainable design what design IS not merely what it could be.
The more knowledge and tools, the easier it is to make better decisions that when added up can change the world.

For an introduction into the production of consumer goods check out this post about the story of stuff and sustainable graphic design.